Italianamerican and American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince

Martin Scorsese’s documentaries are like portals to his sources of inspiration, and Italianamerican takes us to the heart of the matter via a conversation with his parents. As his mother prepares meatballs, she and her husband tell the stories of their families’ journeys from Sicily to Elizabeth Street, which speak volumes about the immigrant experience. American Boy is the realization of Scorsese’s idea for a film in which “a man sits down, tells his story, and little by little you see an era emerge, a way of life, a way of surviving.” He found the perfect subject in Steven Prince, a great storyteller, who played the gun dealer in Taxi Driver, a role for which he provided his own guns.

—Kate MacKay